How Hard Is It To Say Goodbye?

Since we made the decision to sell our house in April, I knew that this day had to come. For months I told myself, the day was far away and I had ample time to prepare myself for it.

Well that day is here now.

After spending 18 years in a place, it is not that easy to say goodbye to it especially when it holds so many memories. And of course moving from Geylang to Tampines means that I no longer stay near to town and I have to spend a longer time travelling to get where I want.

But fortunately (or unfortunately), the big pile of boxes and cartons in the living room is a reminder that I have little time to grieve...

Down To the Wire...

Months of anticipation has finally culminated in this moment. In a matter of hours, I'll be boarding on a plane to Turkey (with a suitcase of food enough to feed a class of kindergarten kids)!

Will I like Turkey? Well according to Dawn, June is Istanbul at its hottest and smelliest...

Guess I'll have to smell it for myself in 24 hours time!

Too Late For SEX?

For 10 years I have lived without SEX. I have been tempted countless times and on many occasions, I nearly caved in. But no, I held on to my beliefs and refused to do it. My best friends wondered what was wrong with me and tried their darnest to get me to indulge in the carnal pleasures of SEX. For a whole decade, I took pride in the fact that I could remain SEXless and yet go on with life.

That is until now...

All it took was a bite of the forbidden fruit and I was hooked. One bite and years of abstaining from SEX gone down the drain. Go on. Laugh at me. Mock me. Tell me 'I told it was good'. I realize now the folly of my ways. What on earth have I been doing all these years without SEX?

Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, is it too late for me to join in?

The Cookie Wins!

So another season of Amercian Idol is over.

While I've not been entirely thrilled by this season (the shameless pimping of Archuleta being the main cause), in the end it was all good.

David Cook was never my No. 1 fave contestant this year (that honour goes to the incredible Carly Smithson) but he is a great artist and American Idol can only benefit by adding him to its stable of (mostly lackluster) winners.

So after 7 seasons, here's a tally of the winners so far.

Season 1: White Bread Girl-Next-Door (who has since evolved into an Angry Woman)
Season 2: Black Teddy Bear
Season 3: Funky Black Mama
Season 4: White Country Girl
Season 5: Spastic White Guy
Season 6: Fat Mulatto
Season 7: Cool White Rocker

Hopefully next year the producers won't attempt to shove a contestant down our throats like they did with David Archuleta this year. Sometimes it backfires, this year it certainly did and I ended up hating Archuleta all season.

IF - Nelson del Castillo

2 years ago, I was with Dominic at Bangkok's Siam Paragon when we heard this absolutely beautiful and haunting song. We went back to Siam Paragon everyday and the song was playing every single time. Neither one of us knew who it was by but we managed to note down snatches of the lyrics.

Eventually Dominic tracked down the song, it was called 'If' by Nelson Del Castillo a Filipino singer. I never managed to get a copy of the album so imagine my surprise when I found the song on Youtube recently.

Listening to the song again takes me back to the magical experience of hearing it for the first time in Bangkok. With all the travelling I've been doing and ahead of me, it amazes me that I have not found the time to visit my favourite city since Dec 2006.

I have not forgotten you Bangkok. Soon, I'll be there again I promise, soon...

All Things Paper

When you've been writing for a number of years, the novelty of seeing your work on television kinds of wear off. Especially when there is only one broadcaster in Singapore and you don't have much creative control over what you put on television.

Prior to last July, I haven't worked on any TV projects for well over a year. So imgaine my surprise when I got a call in Spain to work on a series for Channel News Asia. I had previously written only one show for CNA and it was quite a number of years ago so I was really excited at the opportunity to work on another one.

The company that called me (Very! Productions) was launching their very first TV production but Angie and Felicia, the gals behind Very! were experienced and as it turned out, very driven and creative.

From that one project, I came to work on a total of 4 series for CNA over the past year. Sure it was exhausting and many times I really wondered what I had gotten myself into when I had to juggle more than 1 series at the same time. But at the same time, it was an extremely fulfilling experience.

'All Things Paper' that very first series for Very! is ending its run on CNA this week. The last episode airs this Sunday, 11 May at 10.30pm. This episode also marks the debut of my voice on television. As 2 of our profiles spoke in Cantonese, the station needed us to do voice-overs in English using non-professionals. Despite my protests, Angie and Felicia had faith I could do it so my voice is going on TV haha!

Looking over my resume, there are not many shows that I can truly say I'm proud of and that's a testatment to the state of local TV today. But 'All Things Paper' is special to me and I'm proud of Angie and Felicia for producing such an awesome programme. Way to go gals!

How Fat Is Too Fat?

I have been putting on weight due to medication and an appetite that has somehow spiralled out of control. I keep telling myself to start losing weight... tomorrow. Now it seems tomorrow must finally come.

Recently I noticed that my only pair of jeans are getting a wee bit tight, same goes for my belt. But that was taken care of sucking in my stomach and pulling my jeans up, way up.

Imagine my horror when I noticed bruises on my stomach the other day. At first, I was mystified as to where the bruises came from. Then it dawned on me that GASP! my jeans and belt were finally too small for me!

So it is finally time to start losing weight...